There is Beauty in Every Person at Every Age

From the first click of the camera this day, Caleb and Olivia were full of personality and great smiles. When we got these shots in the first five minutes, I knew it was going to be a really great time together. And it was.

I met up with this family LAST FALL and thoroughly enjoyed them. David and Chandra are really great about enjoying the kids and each other and going with the flow, which is pretty important if you want genuine happiness and smiles from the little ones. A little playing...a little bribery...a little silliness and it all works out.

Here is David with each of his kids.

We met at the Asian Garden at Pt. Defiance Park in Tacoma and it was beautiful there...fun paths, neat trees, and ponds with little tadpoles on them.

This family all has some seriously blue eyes.

Far from the mom who is ultra concerned about having every hair in place for every shot, Chandra was such a great sport when Caleb had a heyday with her hair when he was perched on her shoulders. He kneaded it around, he pulled out two chunks like horsey reins....and she just laughed. I think this mom knows what life with a messy one-year-old is like. And years from now, when she looks at these pictures, she'll remember just what it was like to give him a shoulder ride.

Now if I could have recorded the laugh of this little guy, you would be laughing too. What a hysterical sound that comes out of his mouth when he is terribly pleased with himself. Maybe his dad could figure out a way to attach a button to him, which when pressed, could have him laughing like that.

The bubbles required some real concentration.

I once read a quote in a photography book that "there is beauty in every person, at every age." I SO believe that! There is beauty in a grinning one-year-old, thrilled to be walking on his own. There is beauty in a three-year-old girl with shiny eyes when being told silly stories. There is beauty in a wife and mom, watching and enjoying her sweet family. There is beauty in a dad and husband, who knows how to tease and play with his kids. There is beauty in the connecting of it all.